I feel that to be fair I should share this email to anyone interested in getting the Brazilian Blowout. I received this lovely number after my last post. Not that I SHOULD have to reference my posts, as this is MY blog and I clearly noted to do "your" research. My sources were valid and found via ABC.com and via an article provided on the Brazilian Blowout website.
I would not subject myself to anything I truly found or believed to be harmful to me or anyone reading this blog, especially without doing the research first.
In your recent post on Brazilian Blowout, you made the statement that “OSHA ruled back in November, that this product is completely formaldehyde free.” I’m not sure what your source is for that statement, but it is incorrect. OSHA has certainly made no such ruling, and the product certainly contains formaldehyde (primarily in the form of methylene glycol, or aqueous formaldehyde).
To my knowledge, federal OSHA has not specifically commented regarding Brazilian Blowout and formaldehyde content (although the federal OSHA formaldehyde standard makes it clear that formaldehyde exists in solution). Oregon OSHA (of which I am the Administrator) issued a report on October 29, 2010 that summarized the results of our analysis of various products. By any standard analytical method, Brazilian Blowout (both the original and the Acai products – not the new BB Zero, which had not been released at the time of the report) contains formaldehyde.
The company itself now acknowledges that it contains methylene glycol, which industrial hygienists and the vast majority of industrial chemists consider to be “aqueous formaldehyde” or “formaldehyde in solution.” And whatever you call the substance that’s in the product before it is used, it certainly releases formaldehyde when it is used. Although it is true that we did not find airborne exposures above the mandatory permissible exposure limit, we did find exposures above levels recommended by the American Conference of Government and Industrial Hygienists and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. While the company has argued that our results prove the product to be “safe” (an interpretation we dispute), it has certainly never suggested in any public forum I have seen that “OSHA ruled….this product is completely formaldehyde free.” To the contrary, Oregon OSHA advised all stylists and salons within Oregon that the product (and others) must be treated as formaldehyde-containing products under the workplace formaldehyde standards that we enforce.
The press release we issued, which includes links to the full report and to the “hazard alert” we distributed to the Oregon salons, can be found at http://www.orosha.org/admin/
I hope this is some help in clarifying this issue for you and for those who rely on your blog for information.
Take what you will with it. Xx,
Dang. The author of that email had some time on his/her hands. I don't even understand half of what was being said! Ha! Scientific jargon.
ReplyDeleteYes, girl. It's YOUR blog and you have the right to voice whatever opinion you want when you want. If you don't like it, don't read it...that's my blog policy. :) Keep on writing what you want. I like what you have to say.
Wow. In my book that response was just RUDE. I agree with Sarah above-Keep on writing what you want. I like what you have to say too!
ReplyDeleteI'm in total shock that they wrote you this email!!! My jaw is on the floor.
ReplyDeleteMy mom is hairstylist, and she said she will NEVER do a Brazilian blowout on anyone because of the chemicals that are in them
ReplyDelete